Project info
- Developer Devin Alexander Colyer
- Showcase year 2022
- Programme Computer Game Applications Development
Synopsis
A game application to be tested by participants with simulated disabilities. This is to evaluate how effective accessibility features are in mitigating external difficulty while preserving the application's mechanical difficulty. The application is designed to replicate the mechanical difficulty of games such as Dark Souls, Castlevania, and Hollow Knight, among others. The levels in the game are designed to press the player in certain areas to test the various accessibility issues targeted by this project. The application will test an audio compass made to assist the deaf or people who are hard-of-hearing, a high visibility mode with customisable colours to assist with colour blindness or an individual's impaired vision, and the Xbox adaptive controller will be used to simulate motor disabilities to a limited extent.
Evaluating Accessibility Features in Relation to Difficult Video Games
A game application to be tested by participants with simulated disabilities. This is to evaluate how effective accessibility features are in mitigating external difficulty while preserving the application's mechanical difficulty.
Project Motivation
My favourite games of all time are part of the Dark Souls series and its offshoots developed by FromSoftware. I often see a significant amount of discourse around difficulty and accessibility relating to these games. So I thought it would be appropriate to investigate what could be done to make these games more accessible to a wider audience while preserving the difficulty of the games, one of the core aspects and appeals of the Souls-like sub-genre of Action Roleplaying Games.
